USMNT phenom Ricardo Pepi seizes his moment, aims even higher in 2022

By Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Soccer Writer

Editor's note: The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar begins Nov. 21, 2022, only on FOX networks. All this week, we've had stories and videos counting down to the one-year-out mark.

PROSPER, Texas — The house that 18-year-old Ricardo Pepi shares with his parents and two younger siblings in the suburbs north of Dallas is alive with activity on Halloween Sunday.

It’s less than two weeks before the U.S men’s national team will face rival Mexico in a crucial World Cup qualifier in Cincinnati, Ohio, and because Pepi is an irresistible prematch storyline — the Mexican-American striker scored three goals (including two game-winners) in his first two appearances after choosing to represent the USMNT over El Tri just before qualifying started — he’s in high demand.

Pepi’s representatives and his MLS club, FC Dallas, have turned down just about every interview request this fall. Only a couple of national outlets got greenlit; both are here now.

The doorbell of the four-bedroom with the regulation-size goal in the backyard rings repeatedly as one camera crew packs their equipment and another sets up in the living room. Trick-or-treaters have already started to arrive.

The Pepis have lived in Prosper for only about a year; Ricardo bought the place shortly after signing his first contract with FCD. Before that, the family bounced around rented apartments in nearby McKinney and Frisco. Ricardo won’t be here long either, if everything goes according to plan.

"I know that I’m ready for the next step," he says. "The next step is Europe."

Pepi’s origin story is the stuff of fairytales. He moved across Texas from El Paso to join FCD’s academy at 13 and turned pro three years later. He began scoring regularly in MLS this season, earning a USMNT promotion that he has taken full advantage of. But his journey has barely begun.

"Two or three months ago, I didn’t even think of the national team," Pepi says. "My goal wasn’t even to go to this World Cup. It was to the next one. Things move pretty fast."

The next chapter begins in January. 

FC Dallas signed him to a multiyear extension in July, but Pepi’s explosive international debut has caught the attention of some of the sport’s leading clubs. Ajax, Bayern Munich and Manchester United reportedly are among those willing to pay FCD well into eight figures for his rights when the month-long winter transfer window swings open on New Year’s Day. 

The transfer fee could shatter the $20 million-plus that Bayern paid the Vancouver Whitecaps in 2018 for Alphonso Davies, the richest deal in MLS history.

Wherever Pepi lands, there’s considerable risk involved. Nothing he has done so far will matter. The competition for minutes in any of Europe’s top leagues is fierce, and too much is at stake for teams to have unlimited patience with a forward who isn’t scoring.

While any team willing to drop the kind of coin it will take to get Pepi will have a vested interest in his success, nothing is guaranteed. New recruits have to adapt to a different country, culture, league, language, playing style, etc. while performing on the field. And when you’re a national team starter, and the greatest show on earth is less than a year away, taking a leap into the unknown is an even bigger gamble.

"I have to be careful with what I choose," Pepi says. "There’s a World Cup coming, and I want to be able to participate, so I need to make sure that I’m playing. I don’t want to go sit on a bench. That’s basically what my decision is going to be based on."

If you’ve heard clips of Pepi speaking, he sounds like any other teenager. He talks fast. He’s polite but doesn’t say more than he has to. Then you catch him in his element, around his family, and his maturity becomes obvious. He’s confident but not arrogant. He’s more comfortable in his own skin than most 40-year-olds.

To hear Daniel Pepi tell it, his eldest son has had that quiet determination since he was little. 

"He always wanted to work," Daniel says of Ricardo. On the rare occasions that he didn’t, Daniel let him know. "I felt the necessity to push him hard because that's life. You've got to be able to work hard to reach your goals, to reach your dreams."

While he was still in middle school, Pepi moved, alone, a 10-hour drive east to join FCD’s highly regarded development program. 

"Right before I got the opportunity to move to Dallas, I had this long talk with my dad. He said if you want to go somewhere, and you want to eventually go pro, you have to be willing to make those sacrifices," Pepi says. "Ever since we had that talk, it just stayed in my mind. Don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t say that it was easy."

Still, never once did he ask to come home or even think about it, really — not when his mother would cry on the phone with him every night and not when, a year later, his folks begged him to return to El Paso. That was the only time Pepi shed a tear.

"I remember my parents telling me that they really missed me," he says. "I told my dad I'm not leaving."

Even at 14, Pepi had a destination in mind. If anything gives him a fighting chance to succeed in Europe, it’s that single-mindedness.

"I think his mentality is the strongest trait he has," former USMNT striker Herculez Gomez told the New York Times earlier this month.

His talent isn’t in question. That’s not to suggest he’s the finished product. 

Pepi must improve in many areas, particularly his ability to post up defenders and protect the ball with his back to the opponent’s goal. But the gift he does possess — the supernatural ability to sniff out and finish scoring chances inside the 18-yard box — is the most sought-after skill in soccer. It still might not be his most valuable attribute.  

"I was taught to never give up," Pepi says. "Whenever things aren’t going your way, you have to pick yourself back up and always fight for what you want."

What Pepi wants, ultimately, is to rise to the very top of the sport. To wear the famous white shirt of Real Madrid like the forward he idolized growing up, Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez, the all-time leading scorer in Mexican national team history.

It sounds wild, a child’s dream. Pepi has just 55 MLS games to his name and had scored a grand total of two goals before 2021.

Then you remember that Pepi’s teammates with the U.S. squad are already employed by the likes of Barcelona, Chelsea and Juventus, and they aren’t much older that he is. Over the past 12 months, two FCD players with less professional experience than Pepi, Bryan Reynolds and Tanner Tessmann, moved to Roma and Venezia, respectively, in Italy’s Serie A. 

"I know it’s possible to actually make it there," Pepi says. "It seems reachable." 

As much as Pepi’s commitment to the U.S. squad over Mexico’s has been framed as a matter of the heart, he loves both countries. 

"At home, I’m Mexican. We speak Spanish. We eat Mexican food," he says. "And whenever I step foot out of my house, I'm American."

More than anything, it was a business decision, a means to an end. Pepi came up through the American system. He represented the U.S. at the youth level. His style of play is better-suited to the USMNT, and its young roster — the average age of its most recent lineups was under 23 — made it a better fit off the field than El Tri’s veteran-laden squad. The U.S. also just happened to have a glaring need up top. 

"The reason I chose the USA was because they gave me the opportunity to be able to represent them in a big game, a big tournament, a qualifying game," he says. "I feel like if anyone gets that opportunity, anyone's going to take it. I knew I couldn't let it go."

His parents dreamed Ricardo would play for Mexico. His mother, Annette, was surprised by her son’s decision. But both fully supported it. 

There were no divided loyalties during the Nov. 12 "Clasico" in Cincy, which the U.S. won 2-0. The Pepis were all-in for the hosts.

"This is not about being Mexican or being American," Daniel Pepi says. "This is just soccer."

Pepi has cooled slightly following his blistering start. He hasn’t scored in his past four U.S. games but has kept his starting spot.

Pepi played within himself against Mexico, connecting his passes and, crucially, not losing the ball. In the USMNT’s final qualifier of 2021, he assisted on Tim Weah’s strike in a 1-1 tie in Jamaica.

"He showed us a different dimension to his game this camp, especially with his hold-up play," U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter said of Pepi following the stalemate in Kingston. "His defensive pressure work rate has really improved, and that's at a high level now, and he was a little bit unlucky. There was a chance against Mexico we thought he could have probably scored, and he probably wants it back.

"Overall, we’re really happy with Ricardo in this window," the coach added. "He showed that he's a class player."

Pepi’s resilience and easygoing demeanor have also won the respect of the U.S. locker room.

"We see him score in different ways — a lot of it comes from his timing in the box — and he has shown that even when things aren’t going his way, he can come up with big moments," U.S. defender Walker Zimmerman says. "His ascent has been a quick one, but he has stayed levelheaded with his teammates, continued to work hard in training. To go out and produce amidst all the chaos, as a teenager, is pretty special."

Pepi does have a calmness about him, almost like he knows something you don’t. Some of that is just his personality, but he works at that, too. He meditates before every game (what kind of 18-year-old meditates?) using an app on his phone.

"It’s only 10 minutes out of your day. It helps a lot," he says. "You can’t perform at the best of your abilities when your mind’s not right. It’s become a big part of my ritual."

Pepi is determined to succeed in life. He’s working toward a business degree online from the University of Southern New Hampshire, just in case the whole "world domination" thing doesn’t work out. He knows he has a debt to repay.

When Ricardo told his parents that he wasn’t going back to El Paso, the whole family moved to the Dallas area instead. His brother, Diego, and sister, Sophia, who were 12 and 8 at the time, left their schools and their friends behind. His parents had to find new jobs. They had no idea then if he would ever make it.

"It was hard," says Daniel, who still logs 15-hour days as a construction worker. "We all had a life out there [in El Paso]. But I didn't want him to come back and tell me, ‘I could have been a great professional soccer player, but you didn't give me the opportunity.’"

Pepi knows what his family gave up to get him here. It’s why he’s desperate to get to Europe. More than anything else, securing their future drives him.

"I came from a home that was very loving, was very supportive, but we didn't really have a lot of money," he says. "My parents had to grind. They've never been given anything."

Pepi’s first MLS contract paid him about $90,000 a year. The extension he inked over the summer upped that to $271,000, including bonuses. He’ll earn many times that on the other side of the Atlantic.

"I want to be able to take my parents out of work," Pepi says. "I want them to be 50, 60 years old and just be able to enjoy their lives. I want to be able to help my siblings out as much as I can. I just want to take care of my family, and on a personal note, I want to put my name out there.

"It’s up to me to make it happen."

One of the most prominent soccer journalists in North America, Doug McIntyre has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams in more than a dozen countries, including multiple FIFA World Cups. Before joining FOX Sports, the New York City native was a staff writer for Yahoo Sports and ESPN. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.